Restructuring, Health, Israel

After seven years with no update to the main public sector framework agreement the Histradut trade union organisation reports that negotiations have delivered a salary increase of 11% over the next four years up to April 2027 along with a lump sum of NIS 6,000 (€1575) designed to help cope with the cost of living. Workers will get a two-hour cut in working week from 42 to 41 hours in June 2023 and from 41 to 40 hours in January 2025. There will also be special salary adjustments for a range of occupations, particularly in health and social care. Meanwhile, the union has negotiated an agreement

The UCAPSE trade union has made a significant breakthrough by negotiating the first collective agreement covering 500 employees at Nefromor a subsidiary of the Fresenius Medical Care multinational. UCAPSE managed to organise workers in 2018 and has since been involved in long and complex negotiations to achieve a collective agreement which now covers pay, minimum wages, working time, education funds, pensions and shift allowances. There are backdated pay increases of 3.25% for 2021 and 3% for 2022. The hourly rate for the lowest paid will rise to around €8.40 (legal minimum wage is €7.73). The

The national nurses' association is threatening strike action if the government doesn't agree to talks to address serious understaffing and low pay. The union says that there was already a shortfall of 1500 nurses before the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation has seriously deteriorated as the country has been hit by a second wave. Infection of health staff is increasing with around 1000 nurses now in quarantine while those at work are facing increasing workloads, long working houjs and greater stress. The government has promised some additional funding but the union wants to see urgent action

Workers across the public and private sectors took four hours of strike action on 17 December to call for government action to resolve a crisis that could lead to 1750 job losses at the TEVA pharmaceuticals multinational in Israel, part of a plan to cut 14000 jobs worldwide. The action was called by the Histadrut confederation which says that the company had benefited from favourable tax arrangements and that the government should intervene to protect the workers whose jobs are under threat.